In recent weeks Indonesia has been wracked with a massive scandal after a 6 year old was allegedly raped by a pedophile janitor ring at JIS, a noted international school. One of the suspects has now committed suicide by drinking cleaning fluid. The local press has focused on the international school part of the scandal, ignoring the fact that all the alleged rapists were locals. Nonetheless, better screening of sexual predators is surely on the cards now.

Any news about whether criminal record checks will finally be coming to Indonesia?

The local press has been trying to scapegoat foreigners for this disgraceful attack. It is slready becoming very uncomfortable with authorities grilling teachers for hours as if they are suspects too. A bit of a witch hunt has started.

There was a terrible story in the Jakarta Post last week about the Aceh sharia police. A group of men including some sharia police caught a woman having an affair. She was then gang-raped by 8 men as "punishment" and had raw sewerage thrown over at her. The men have been charged but so has she. Her crime was "adultery".

No one should expect Indonesia to make sensible laws in this area. Women in Indonesia suffer a lot at the hands of men. And the men want to blame everyone except themselves. It doesn't surprise me that Indonesian janitors committing a rape is now the fault of "evil Western influences".

Oh yes they are-or are about to do.......apparently all work visa issuance has been put on hold while the authorities 'work out' the criminal check requirement....

Apparently Wall Street are having difficulty at the moment. This is second hand information picked up on Facebook, so don't take my word as gospel. I've not heard anything else though.

Not taking your comments as gospel, do you mean that Wall Street are having difficulty getting work visa issuance? It surprises me as they have just opened a large new centre in Bandung. Wall Street have also had the cleanest reputation in terms of using qualified teachers. I can't see why they would be singled out.

I would add that there is simply no reason to trust DIKNAS. All of the indications is that they are open to corruption. Rumah Bahasa is the surest proof of this.

Rumah Bahasa has opened 4 schools in "hypermarts" around Jakarta over the past couple of years. These schools are big and very visible and they have been hiring teachers on tourist visas. Even more suspiciously, Rumah Bahasa is not even a registered company! They are not legally allowed to employ Native Speakers at all. Yet the keep opening (and closing) branches with no problems from authorities. It is clear that some sort of "deal" exists between Rumah Bahasa and authorities which enables them to do business despite flagrant violations of Indonesian law.

In terms of the criminal record check business, who would feel confident it won't be regarded as just one more way to extract bribes?

There may be something to it. That website from Pak Liam, the school principal at a National Plus school, mentions not only that 7 VKU teachers have been sent home in recent days (after an Immigration raid), but he also mentions problems with visa issuance. So there may be something to it. To read the full report from the principal, click on the article so you can see the full discussion below. Cheers.

In Tempo - a leading Indonesian newspaper- it was reported on Monday the 2nd of June that 26 JIS kindergarten teachers are being deported from Indonesia. This really is turning into a witch hunt. They were accused on "falsifying" their work visas, which is ridiculous. They were listed on their KITASes as elementary school teachers when they were teaching kindergarten.

This was surely the fault of the school or even Immigration, but they seem to be looking for any technicality with which to punish JIS teachers. Perhaps the noise will die down soon but right now it is surely an uncomfortable time for the expat teaching community.

Last edited by bradleycooper on Wed Jun 04, 2014 5:26 am; edited 1 time in total

In Tempo - a leading Indonesian newspaper- it was reported on Monday the 2nd of June that 26 JIS kindergarten teachers are being deported from Indonesia. This really is turning into a witch hunt. They were accused on "falsifying" their work visas, which is ridiculous. They were listed on their KITASes as elementary school teachers when they were teaching kindergarten..

There is now a 200 page long thread about this case on the Living in Indonesia forum, a popular Indonesian expat forum. It must be a true nightmare to be a teacher at JIS right now living under a cloud of innuendo and suspicion.